A POWER cut led to a junior school closing for three days before the Christmas break was due to start.

Youngsters were just starting to arrive at Skinner Street Primary School, Gillingham, on Monday when staff discovered there was no lighting or heating in the junior department.

Head teacher Julia Tucker took the decision to move the children to the infant section of the school, which was unaffected by the problem, but in the end parents were asked to collect their children.

EDF Energy were immediately notified about the problem but power still hadn’t been restored today - the day the school was due to break up for Christmas.

Ms Tucker said: “Due to the recent low temperatures and the fact we were unable to heat a number of classrooms we decided it was best to send pupils home.

“Hats off to the parents who had to quickly make alternative arrangements for their children to be looked after.

“I would also like to thank the parents who managed to get their children to the school carol service which was held at St Mark’s Church on Tuesday despite the fact they weren’t in school.”

A spokesman for Medway Council said: “EDF were due to send out two engineers on Thursday to fix the problem. The school was accidently disconnected when EDF engineers fixed a domestic problem at the weekend.

“The school’s power should be up and running for the new term in January.”